What are some advantages of removing fossils from their site of discovery?
Removing the fossils lets you see them (possibly) from more than one side. A fossil contained within a piece of rock can be carefully broken open, or cleaned so that more of it is visible. Plus, there may be other fossils on the same piece of rock which you can’t see initially because they were on the “bottom” side, or ther were beneath other layers in the rock. If a fossil can be completely removed and cleaned, it can be measured in multiple directions too. If the fossil isn’t able to be cleaned, you wouldn’t know if what was visible on the surface was the entire organism (length & width), or just a small portion of it. Fossils that are able to be removed may be able to have additional forms oft esting done on them than ones that are left in place.
